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VDOT's St. Louis substation will respond to our requests to regrade the road when weather and traffic has damaged it. To reach them to make a request dial: 540-687-8512

Update: April 30, 2009

Slurry Paving Notice

The company just said that the resurfacing will be ONLY for cul-de-sacs: Pintail, Swan, Wood Duck. This has NOTHING to do with the abandoned push to pave Shoemaker School Road. If you want more info, there should be a supervisor's name and celphone number on your notice. I talked with Jimmy Mullins, project supervisor, 804/393-6615. pb

Update March 12

Just when it looked like we could get back to normal, the proponents think they can come back and fight for paving again, even though the county has decided not to and it is desperate for roads money for more important projects--money it plans to get from the same program that would have been used to pave over Shoemaker.

For the record, our petition was publicly available and is today. The proponent's petition delivered to Supervisor Burton had 17 names on it, then they claim in a new email that they had 26 backers. Since there are only 50 houses in the neighborhood and we had 29 signatures, 26 is inventive math, especially since five paving proponents switched to the opposition after considering the long-term impact of paving. They also make an issue of who can sign the petition, those only with Shoemaker addresses or all of us who have to use it. That's easy, it's all of us, just like in every other Loudoun paving fight, a point the proponents actually made when they collected signatures from those who live on or are serviced by Shoemaker. Of course the law states that those who are on or serviced by the road at issue have the vote. And we signed up more supporters with Shoemaker addresses than the paving proponents. We will continue to keep an eye on this issue, but it is clearly over for a very long time since so many of us feel passionate about this and proved that by signing the petition and appearing at the county board sessions and transportation committee meetings to air our views.

Updated February 26, 2008

Transportation Committee Kills Paving Project

"In these subdivisions, they chose to live off a gravel road."

At last night's meeting of the BOS Transportation Committee, the Shoemaker School paving project was finally killed. The committee did not include it in this year's six-year rural roads program. What's more, the committee's actions strongly suggested that it will be a long time before Shoemaker School is considered for the paving program in the future. That's because the committee finds itself tight on money and eager to use Rural Rustic Roads Program dollars supplied by the state to fix better, secondary roads. Transporation staffers said that the state anticipates a 44 percent drop in fees it collects to pay for roads projects and that will result in an $8 million decrease in state roads money for the county, leaving it with $30 million. Three other points were made last night. First, in a related project for Lincoln that would have benefited 68 homes -- 18 more than our neighborhood -- the committee said that money in the future will have to be set aside for larger populations. Second, our Supervisor Jim Burton panned the Rural Rustic Roads Program, noting that the two in his area, Loudoun Orchard and Mt. Gilead are in poor shape. And they don't even carry the kind of traffic Shoemaker School does. Finally Supervisor Lori Waters said the obvious: "In these subdivisions, they chose to live off a gravel road."

Update February 22

We are almost there. Shoemaker School has been REMOVED from the six-year secondary roads plan the BOS Transportation Committee will review Tuesday February 25. They also note in the meeting agenda that six opponents and no proponents spoke at last month's public input session.

LOUDOUN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:Staff recommends the Transportation and Land Use Committee recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve the FY09-FY14 Secondary Road Six Year Plan and FY09 Budget Priority List to include the projects and funding schedule as outlined in the draft plan.

BACKGROUND:A joint public hearing was held by the Board of Supervisors and VDOT to obtain public comment on the FY09 – FY14 Secondary Road Six Year Plan and FY09 Budget Priority List.Twenty-three (23) citizens addressed the Board on a variety of issues.

The nature of the comments were as follows:

Items Not on the Draft Six Year Plan:

The Mayor of Lovettsville asked for funding to be included for Loudoun Street drainage improvements and sidewalks; implementation of the Broad Way Drainage Improvement Study; study the feasibility of a roundabout at South Loudoun Street and S. Berlin Turnpike; and improve the intersection at Milltown Road/Lovettsville Road/East Broad Way with multi-way stop signs and a pedestrian crosswalk*.(*VDOT indicates this will require turn-lanes to be installed.)No cost estimates provided.

Two citizens asked that no funding be put on the Purcellville Southern Collector Road.

Six citizens asked that no funding be put on paving Shoemaker School Road.

One citizen asked for funding for Phase II of the Waterford Traffic Calming project. Cost estimate is $5,930,000.

Update February 20

Burton Says It's Dead-Loudoun Times-Mirror

"The support wasn't there," said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) on paving.

Residents who live along Shoemaker School Road were also on hand to ask the board to support county's staff recommendation to delete the planned paving of their road from the six-year plan.

"We're worried that paving Shoemaker will ruin the rural environment most of us moved here for. Traffic and speed will go up," Paul Bedard, who lives on the road south of Purcellville, said. "I don't know what's next. Are we going to paint lines on the road, passing zones, turn signals? We don't need that. It's a nice country road," resident John Thompson said.

Big Turnout At Board Of Supervisors Hearing

At least seven Shoemaker School Road families were at the Feburary 11 Loudoun Board of Supervisors hearing to voice their opposition to paving our gravel road. Six spoke up in favor of the county transportation staff's recommendation not to proceed with paving. Surprisingly, NONE of the proponents appeared, leaving the board with the obvious impression that there isn't any support for paving. Blue Ridge Supervisor Jim Burton said that the staff's recommendation will be acted on with in a month, though he wasn't making any promises. All in all the effort was a great success and now we can go back to worrying about other things. We'll keep this page updated as the county moves through their roads agenda this and next month.

Our Petition: Three in five residents oppose paving Shoemaker School Road

We have delivered our petition opposing the paving of Shoemaker School Road to the Board of Supervisors. You'll be glad to hear that we collected signatures from 29 of 50 residents, including five who switched their positions after considering the long-term impact of paving. The ratio of those for versus against paving in the neighborhood is 29 opposed to 17 for. Thanks again for all your support.